Hello, Fellow Readers!
I just finished
The Hate U Give
by Angie Thomas
From Amazon:
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
Wow. This book was hard to read at times due to the range of emotions that you go through chapter by chapter, but a HUGE eye opener. It brings a different perspective of police shootings of African Americans. It made me start to think how shootings are reported by the media. We usually hear about the police side of the story and rarely do we hear from the victims family or friends. This story is about the issue of police brutality from the perspective of the victim’s loved ones. Too many people are quick to jump to the conclusion that somehow the victim “deserved it”, particularly when the victim is black. Lost in all of this is how the families and communities are affected. The Hate U Give isn’t about a movement. It’s about black lives living, and about black lives loving, and about black lives pursuing happiness and deserving freedom—just like everyone. This novel’s protagonist is sixteen years old, and she lives without an ulterior motive or agenda. Starr is just a girl who experienced a horrific tragedy, and the novel follows her journey through her grief and self-actualizations.
I am actually going to have Sam read this book. I think it provides a different insight with everything that is gong on in the world.
Definitely a 5 out of 5 stars.